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Researchers retrieve health information from second-hand computers

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, October 15, 2007

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Researchers from the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and the University of Ottawa randomly purchased and attempted to extract data from 60 used computers sold by second-hand vendors across Canada as part of a study on the security of medical records stored on computers, according to an October 5 Globe and Mail article.

Researchers were able to access data stored by previous owners on 65% of the computers, and about 18% of the data dealt with medical information, according to the article. Researchers also determined that some of the recovered health information was personal data kept on the machine by the original owners. However, on other machines it was clear that healthcare employees and other healthcare workers used the computers when working on patient files, possibly at home, according to the article, which notes that regardless of how the data got there, it is clear that the majority of the computers were not properly stripped of data before vendors resold them.

The study indicates that users should encrypt all personal data on the machines or else they should consider destroying PC disk drives instead of reselling them to avoid inadvertent disclosures, according to The Globe and Mail.

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